Social Support in a Pregnant and Postnatal Population

Hetherington, Erin Louise

Social Support in a Pregnant and Postnatal Population

dc.contributor.advisor	Tough, Suzanne C.
dc.contributor.advisor	McDonald, Sheila W.
dc.contributor.author	Hetherington, Erin Louise
dc.contributor.committeemember	Patten, Scott B.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Williamson, Tyler S.
dc.date	2019-06
dc.date.accessioned	2019-04-25T18:23:12Z
dc.date.available	2019-04-25T18:23:12Z
dc.date.issued	2019-04-24
dc.description.abstract	Background: Social support, in the form of emotional, informational and tangible resources provided by friends and family is beneficial for health. Social support in pregnancy and the postpartum period is also thought to improve birth outcomes and maternal mental health. However, questions remain as to what type of support is important and for which outcomes. In addition, little is known about patterns of support over time. Methods: A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between low social support and preterm birth. Data from the All Our Families cohort (n=3200) was used for the second two projects This cohort recruited women in pregnancy and followed them to 1 year postpartum, measuring demographic, psychosocial and birth outcome information. Multivariable binomial regression was used to estimate the impact of social support during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period on subsequent mental health symptoms. Group based trajectory modeling was used to determine patterns of support from pregnancy to four months postpartum, followed by multinomial regression to determine characteristics associated with different patterns of support. Results: The systematic review found no direct association between social support and preterm birth, however low social support was associated with preterm birth among women experiencing high stress. The second analysis revealed elevated risk of subsequent depression and anxiety symptoms among women with low support, across various levels of previous mental health risk. Finally, the trajectories analysis showed stable support among 98% of women. Stable high support (60% of women) was associated with higher income. Conclusion: Social support can impact both birth outcomes and maternal mental health, and is relatively stable for most women during pregnancy and postpartum. Interventions to improve support will have a larger absolute benefit for women who may be vulnerable due to previous mental health challenges. More research is needed to understand how to influence conditions that will allow women to develop and maintain strong support networks.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Hetherington, E. L. (2019). Social Support in a Pregnant and Postnatal Population (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/36399
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110214
dc.language.iso	eng	en_US
dc.publisher.faculty	Cumming School of Medicine	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en_US
dc.subject	social support	en_US
dc.subject	pregnancy	en_US
dc.subject	mental health	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Epidemiology	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Public Health	en_US
dc.title	Social Support in a Pregnant and Postnatal Population	en_US
dc.type	doctoral thesis	en_US
thesis.degree.discipline	Medicine – Community Health Sciences	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)	en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true